Ornamentation



Jan. 1l, 1938.

ORAMENTATION Filed Sept.l 9,19374 j l" fred .Effe/7g",

v A. F. REILLY 2,105,265

Patented Jan.' 11, 193s 'UNITED STATES ORNAMENTATIQON Alfred F. Reilly, North Attleboro, Mass., assigner to Evans Case Company, p North Attleboro,

Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application September 9, 1937, Serial No. 163,120l

12 Claims.

The invention relates generally to the production of an ornamental sheet or plate composed preferably of some. such material as celluloid or like plastic and some such material as metal or like rigid material. The metal preferably is formed into an ornamental sheet which may be very thin and may be perforated with such holes as may be necessary to form the desiredorna'- mental appearance. Such a metal sheet will preferably be very thin and may be formed by any suitable process such as etching, electro-plating, stamping, or other process of the sort.

Such a metal'sheet may be applied to the surface of a sheet of celluloid. If desired adhesive may be applied to the metal sheet by spraying or otherwise and before it isplaced on the celluloid sheet. This may aid in holding it in place during manipulation. The celluloid sheet preferably is transparent and it may be colored wholly or partially and the color may be distributed in any suitable manner.- A plurality of4 colors maybe employed, the color being applied either to the surface of the celluloid or worked into the celluloid.

2 The size and shape of the celluloid is immaterial in some aspects of the invention. It may` be the same size as the metal sheet or as the desired nal product, or it may be of a larger size and subsequently cut to the desired nal size.

0 A second sheet of metal similar to the first sheet may be provided in any suitable way. The second sheet will be placed on the side of the celluloid opposite the rst sheet and to fix it may if desired have applied to it adhesive in asimilar manner. The sheets preferably will have corre--l sponding perforations identical in size and shape and arranged opposite eachother on the opposite sides of the `celluloid sheet.` Preferably the celluloid sheet will be somewhat thicker than the 'combined thicknesses of the two metal sheets.

- The two metal sheets having been put in position on the celluloid sheet the entire mass may be placed between heated polished dies which maycause the. celluloid to become p lastic and may force the ornamental metal sheets into both surfaces of the celluloid sheet untilI the metal sheets become substantially levelwith the respective j surfaces of the celluloid sheet. In this arrange ment there will preferably be left an undisturbed portion of ,the',cellu1oil /sheet between the metalv sheets although this ay not be essential. The metal sheets may be brought into substantial contact with each other.` During the pressing operation the metal sheets sink into the surfaces vof celluloid and-the celluloid risesinall of the perforations or apertures of the metal sheets,

. thus forming a smooth, polished surface on each side of the celluloid giving the apperance of a single metal sheet with perforations filled with celluloid.

The finished ornamented sheet may be made from metal sheets which have continuous metallic edges although this is not essential. Such an arrangement is particularly convenient when the finished sheet is to be placed into a frame or n casing or cover of metal since the metallic appertures may be readily attached to the metal frame into which the finished sheet Vis to go.

The invention may be carried out practically in the manner indicated in the accompanying draww ing in which Figure 1 is a plan view of a finished ornamental sheet mounted in a metallic frame, a

, portionl of the designbcing indicated diagrammatically. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary transverse 4vertical section on the line 2-2 of Fig..1. Fig. 3 i's a fragmentary vertical section diagrammatically illustrating the formation of the sheet in heated dies,'the dies being open. Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig.' 3 the. dies being closed. Fig. 5 is a fragmentaryvview similar to Fig. 3 showing M a special typeof die.

The ornamental metal sheets i0 having been formed in any suitable manner may have adhesive il applied to them and by means of the adhesive they may be positioned on opposite sides w of the celluloid sheet l2 in such manner that the corresponding perforations such as i3 in the two sheets are directly opposite each other. For illustrative, purposes the adhesive is shown as much thicker than needed or used. In this condition and preferably after the adhesive has been dried the assembled sheets may be placed between the smooth, polished, heated'dies I4 and the dies may be brought together as indicatedin Fig. 4. The metal Vsheets may be properly adjusted in n registry on the opposite sides of the celluloid and' so held in anysuitable way and without the use of adhesive. Preferably the dies will be so ad- ;justed and controlled that when they are closed together they-leave between them an aperture '45 substantially the width of th original celluloid sheet l2. fThe combination of the heat and 'pressure causes Athe upper' and lower metal'sheets 'l0 to enter,\the celluloid sheet l2 portions of which exude4 into the apertures I3 lling theui and 5o forming a.V smooth, polished surface on botli` sides of the finished ornamented sheet- As illustrated Y in Figs. 3 and 4 the original celluloid sheet may extend beyond theedges of the metal sheets and if ldesired the iinishedsheet may be cut intovsuitu able form the extra edges'of the celluloid being discarded. In Fig. 5, however, is indicated another scheme in which one of the dies I5 has a projecting edge I6 which may outline the size of the n'al sheet desired. Thus there may be placed into the die I5 a pre-formed ornamental metal sheet I0 the exact size of the die and the exact size desired for the finished product. On this may be placed a sheet of celluloid of the exact size desired of the finished product and on this y be placed a second ornamental m tallic sheet I0 of the same size. 'Ihus the desir d registry of the apertures in the metal sheets may be insured without manipulation or the use of adhesive. A suitable form or plunger die- I'I of the same size may enter the aperture I6 and by heat and pressure cause the ornamental metal sheets I0 to assume positions within and at the surface of the celluloid sheet. In this operation a nished sheet of desired size may be provided which has no .ash of celluloid and which needs no trimming before use.

The celluloid sheet I2 may be provided with color in any suitable way. 'Ihis color persists throughout the operation and the inal product is a sheet ornamented by the metal plates I0 and further ornamented by the color effect of the celluloid. The color effect may be produced by printing'or otherwise applying the color to the celluloid in such a manner that the voids in the metallic pieces will be lled with Various colors to produce various color designs. There may thus be produced plates, plaques, pictures, windows and the like. By this operation it may be possible to produce imitations of leaded glass windows such as are ordinarily 'used in churches., auditoriums and the like. Further use for the invention is in the manufacture of suchdevices as compacts, vanity cases, cigarette cases, cigarette holders, mirrors, brushes and the like.

'The ornamental sheet may be mounted in any suitable manner. In Fig. 1, for instance, is illustrated a metallic frame which may form the cover for a box or compact or the like. This metallic cover may comprise an outer frame provided with an inner ledge 2| on which the ornamental sheet I 0, I2 may rest. In the drawing a sheet is illustrated in which the metallic sheets II) are integral throughout their margins and these metallic margins may be attached in any suitable manner to the lip 2| of the frame member 20, it being particularly convenient to attach metia to mem. v

The metallic sheets IIl'may be made of very thin metal so that they. may be' flexible and easily handled. They are not, however, deformed durlng manipulation but retain their size and ornamentalhape.- To this extent therefore, they are rigid and the term rigid has been employed in the accompanying claims to refer to this char- A acteristic in contradistinctionto the' characteristic of the celluloid sheet which does deform under manipulation. 'Ihe celluloid sheet itself is flexible and it may be-desirable to employ two metal sheets of such sheet consisting ofthe celluloid sheet and the two metal sheets, one in each surface, is flexible to some extent as a whole although when the metallic sheets have been fixed into the celluloid sheet the entire sheet becomes rigid in the sense that it does not deform and lose its ornamental appearance. While this flexibility is not an essential element of the present invention it may be an important element in the usefulness of the invention when applied to articles of. personal thinness thatthe finished use such as compacts and like devices carried on the person since itis possible for them to bend without breaking or marring.

'I'he invention has been described as relating to-metal sheets and celluloid sheets although it is obvious that sheets of other rigid material may be similarly associated with sheets of other plastic material, and the terms metal and celluloid are here employed as relating respectively to rigid and plastic materials generally.

The relative size, form and proportions of the various elements have been shown to make the invention clear but with no intention of so limiting the invention. The invention may be capable of embodiments other than those here described.

I claim as my invention:

1. The method of ornamenting comprising placing a thin sheet of perforated ornamental metal on one side of a smooth sheet of transparent celluloid, placing a similar thin sheet of perforated metal on the surface of the other side of the celluloid with the perforations of the metal sheets in register, and pressing the assembly between heated polished smooth dies till the metal sheets enter the celluloid and become level with its surfaces respectively.

2. 'Ihe method of ornamenting comprising placing a thin sheet of perforated ornamental metal in a heated smooth polished die of the same size as the metal, placing on the metal in the die a sheet of celluloid of the same size but more than twice the thickness of the metal, placing on the celluloid in thedie a similar sheet of perforated ornamental metal, and pressing with a heated polished smooth die till the metal sheets 4enter the celluloid and become level with its surfaces respectively. y

3. The method of. ornamenting comprising applying an adhesive on one side of each of two similar thin sheets of perforated metal, placing the metal sheets on the opposite surfaces of a sheet of celluloid with the adhesive toward the celluloid, and with the perforations opposite each other, and pressing the assembly between heated polished smooth dies till themetal sheets enter the celluloid and become level with its surfaces respectively.

4. A sheet of celluloid having sunken into each side to thesurface a thin perforated metal sheet the perforations of the sheets being in register.

5. The method of 'ornamenting celluloid comprising sinking' into the celluloid on each side of the surface a thin perforated metal sheet, andl keeping the perforationsof the sheet in register. 6. A sheet of celluloid having sunken into each side of the surface a thin perforated metal sheet extending to the edges of the celluloid and the perforations of the sheets being in register.

'1. The method of ornamenting celluloid comprising sinking into the celluloid on each side to the surface a thin perforated metal sheet extending to the edges of the celluloid and keeping the the surface a thin per- 'l5 lgrowers l d 3 `forated rigid sheet the perforations of the sheets being in register.

10. The method of ornamenting comprising sinking into a sheet of transparent plastic on each side to the'surface a thin perforated rigid sheet, and keeping the perforations of the sheets in register.

11. A sheet of celluloid having sunken into each side to the surface a thin perforated metal n) sheet extending to the edges of the celluloid and the perforations of the sheets being in register,

and a frame to which it is attached by the metal edges.

, 12. The method of ornamenting comprising sinking into a sheet of celiuioid on each side to the surface a thin perforated metal vsheet extending to the edges ofthe celiuloid, and keeping the perforations in register, and fastening the sheet into a frame by its metal edges.

ALFRED F. aEILLY. lo 

